Languages of the Caribbean

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The languages of the Caribbean reflect the region's diverse history and culture. There are sixofficial languages spoken in the Caribbean. The six languages are:

Spanish (official language of Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico) Haitian Creole (official language of Haiti) English (official language of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands)

French (official language of Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, St. Barthelemy and St. Martin) Papiamento (a Portuguese and Spanish-based Creole language) (official language of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire)

Dutch (official language of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten)

However there are also number of creoles and local patois. Dozens of the creole languages of the Caribbean are widely used informally among the general population. There are also a few additional smaller indigenous languages. Many of the indigenous languages have become extinct or are dying out. At odds with the ever growing desire for a single Caribbean community[1], the linguistic diversity of a few Caribbean islands has made language policy an issue in the post-colonial era. In recent years, Caribbean islands have become aware of a linguistic inheritance of sorts. However, language policies being developed nowadays are mostly aimed at multilingualism.

Contents
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1 Language groups
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1.1 English language 1.2 Spanish language 1.3 French language 1.4 Dutch language 1.5 Other language families

1.5.1 Indigenous 1.5.2 Creole languages

2 Language in the Caribbean

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2.1 Demographics 3.1 Syntactic 3.2 Semantic

3 Linguistic features
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4 See also 5 Notes 6 References

[edit]Language

groups

Most languages spoken in the Caribbean are either European languages (namely English, Spanish, French and Dutch) or European language-based creoles. These belong to language families concentrated or originating outside of the Caribbean continent, primarily Europe. English is the first or second language in most Caribbean islands and is also the unofficial "language of tourism", the dominant industry in the Caribbean region. In the Caribbean, the official language is usually determined by which ever colonial power (England, Spain, France, or the Netherlands) held sway over the island first or longest.

[edit]English

language

Main article: Caribbean English With the founding of the first permanent English colonies at Saint Kitts (1624) and Barbados (1627) the language is the second most established throughout the Caribbean, however, due to the relatively small populations of the English-speaking territories, only 14%[2] of West Indians are English speakers. English is the official language of about 18 Caribbean territories inhabited by about 6 million people, though most inhabitants of these islands may more properly be described as speaking English creoles than their varieties of standard English. In Jamaica, though generally an English speaking island, a patois drawing on a multitude of influences including Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Arawak and African languages a well as Irish. is heard on an everyday basis. Some of the most widely spoken English creole[3] languages include [list needed].

[edit]Spanish

language

Main article: Spanish language

The Caribbean English speakers are outnumbered by Spanish speakers by a ratio of almost four to one due to the high densities of populations on the larger islands; some 64% of West Indians speak Spanish.[citation needed] The islands that are included in this group are Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, (and some tiny islands off Central and South America).

[edit]French

language

Main article: French language About one quarter of West Indians speak French. Islands belonging to the Lesser Antilles, such as Martinique (French vs. creole French), Guadeloupe (French vs. creole French) and Saint Lucia (where most inhabitants speak a French-lexified creole called Kwyl that also uses a significantly restructured English-lexified vernacular). Other islands includes Haiti [4][5], Martinique, Saint Barthelemy (where a form of 17th century French is spoken), Saint Martin (the French half of this island), Guadeloupe (where most inhabitants speak both French and a French-based creole).

[edit]Dutch

language

Main article: Dutch language Dutch is an official language of the Caribbean islands that remain under Dutch sovereignty. However, Dutch is not the dominant language on these islands. On the islands of Aruba, Curaao and Bonaire, a Spanish-Portuguese based creole known as Papiamento is predominant, while in Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius, English, as well as a local English creole, are spoken. A Dutch creole, known as Negerhollands was spoken in the former Danish West Indian islands of Saint Thomas and Saint John, but is now extinct. Its last native speaker died in 1987.[6]

[edit]Other

language families

[edit]Indigenous
Several languages spoken in the Caribbean belong to language families concentrated or originating inside of the Caribbean mainland continent: Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru. Asian languages such as Chinese and Indian are spoken by South Asian expatriates exclusively. In earlier historical times, other Indo-European languages (such as German[7]) could be found in northeastern parts of the Caribbean.

see early religious education by german

Many indigenous languages (actually associated with mainland Caribbean rather than the islands proper) have been added to the list of not totally extinct /endangered/ languages for example Arawak languages (Shebayo, Igneri, Lokono, Garifuna of St. Vincent, and the one now labeled Taino by scholars, once

spoken in the Greater Antilles), Cariban (Nepuyo and Yao), Taruma, Atorad, Warrau, Arecuna, Akawaio and Patamona.These languages are still spoken here by a few people.
[8][9]

[edit]Creole

languages

Creoles are contact languages usually spoken in rather isolated colonies, the vocabulary of which is mainly taken from a European language (the lexifier[10]). Creoles generally have no initial or final consonant clusters but have a simple syllable structure which consists of alternating consonants and vowels (e.g. "CVCV")[11]. Due partly to its multilingualism and its colonial past, a substantial proportion of the world's creole languages are to be found in the Caribbean and Africa. Most of the Caribbean creoles and patois are the lexifiers (or derivations) of Indo-European languages developed from this colonial era (e.g. Carib and Arawak). Creole languages continue to evolve in the direction of European colonial languages in which its related, so that decreolization occurs and a post-creole continuum arises for example the Jamaican sociolinguistic situation has often been described in term of this continuum[12]. Papiamento, spoken on the so-called 'ABC' islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaao), shows traces of both indigenous as well as Spanish[13], Portuguese and Dutch lexicons. Haitian Creole, far from being a standardised language, was recognized as Haiti's official language in 1961). Contact between French-lexified creoles and English are fairly numerous in the Lesser Antilles (apart from Saint Lucia), they can also be observed on Dominica, Saint Vincent, Carriacou, Petite Martinique and Grenada.[14]

[edit]Language

in the Caribbean

Throughout the long multilingual history of the Caribbean continent, Caribbean languages have been subject to phenomena like language contact, language expansion, language shift, and language death [15]. A case in point is the Spanish expansion, in which Spanish-speaking peoples expanded over most of centralCaribbean, thereby displacing Arawak speaking peoples in much of the Caribbean. Or the Creole expansion, in which Creole-speaking peoples expanded over several of islands. A better example is the English expansion in the 17th century, which led to the extension of English to much of north and east Caribbean. Trade languages are another age-old phenomenon in the Caribbean linguistic landscape. Cultural and linguistic innovations spread along trade routes and languages of peoples dominant in trade developed into languages of wider communication (linguae francae). Of particular importance in this respect are French(central and east Caribbean) and Dutch (south and east of the Caribbean). After gaining independence, many Caribbean countries, in the search for national unity, selected one language (generally the former colonial language) to be used in government and education. In recent

years, Caribbean countries have become increasingly aware of the importance of linguistic diversity. Language policies that are being developed nowadays are mostly aimed at multilingualism.[16]

[edit]Demographics
Of the 38 million West Indians (as of 2001),[17] about 62% speak an Spanish a west Caribbean lingua franca. About 25% speak French, about 15% speak English the lingua franca of the eastern Caribbean, and only 0.7% speak Dutch. Spanish, English, and French are important languages: 24, 9 and 5 million speak them as secondary in general. List of major Caribbean languages (by total number of speakers)[needs updating]:

Country

Population (2001)

Official language

Spoken languages

Anguilla

11,430

English

English, Some Spanish

Antigua and Barbuda

66,970

English

English, local dialects

Aruba

70,007

Dutch

Papiamento, Dutch, English, Spanish

Bahamas

303,611

English

English, Creole

Barbados

275,330

English

English, Some Portuguese creole

Bay Islands, Honduras

49,151

Spanish

Spanish, English, Amerindian dialects

Belize

256,062

English

English, Spanish, Mayan, Garifuna, Creole

Bermuda

63,503

English

English, Portuguese

Country

Population (2001)

Official language

Spoken languages

Bonaire

14,230

Dutch

Papiamento, Dutch, English, Spanish

British Virgin Islands

20,812

English

English

Cancun

400,000

Spanish

Spanish, English

Cayman Islands

40,900

English

English

Cuba

11,217,100

Spanish

Spanish

Curacao

130,000

Dutch

Papiamento, Dutch, Spanish

Dominica

70,786

English

English, French patois

Dominican Republic

8,581,477

Spanish

Spanish, Some English

Grenada

89,227

English

English, French patois

Guadeloupe

431,170

French

French, Creole patois

Haiti

6,964,549

French

French, Creole, Some Spanish

Isla Cozumel

50,000

Spanish

Spanish, Some English

Isla de Margarita

350,000

Spanish

Spanish, Some English

Country

Population (2001)

Official language

Spoken languages

Jamaica

2,665,636

English

English, Creole, Hindi, Chinese, Some Spanish

Martinique

418,454

French

French, Creole patois

Montserrat

7,574

English

English

Puerto Rico

3,808,610

Spanish, English Spanish, Some English

Saba

1,704

Dutch

English, Dutch

Saint Barthelemy

6,500

French

French, English

Saint Croix

53,234

English

English

Saint John

4,197

English

English

Saint Kitts and Nevis

38,756

English

English

Saint Lucia

158,178

English

English, French patois

Saint Martin - FWI

27,000

French

French, English, Creole patois, Spanish

Saint Thomas

51,181

English

English

Country

Population (2001)

Official language

Spoken languages

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

115,942

English

English, French patois

Sint Eustatius

2,249

Dutch

English, Dutch, Some Spanish

Sint Maarten

41,718

Dutch

English, Spanish, Dutch, Creole, Papiamento

Trinidad and Tobago

1,169,682

English, Spanish

English, Hindi, French, Spanish, Chinese

Turks and Caicos Islands 18,122 [edit]Linguistic

English

English

features

Some linguistic features are particularly common among languages spoken in the Caribbean, whereas others seem less common. Such shared traits probably are not due to a common origin of all Caribbean languages. Instead, some may be due to language contact (resulting in borrowing) and specific idioms and phrases may be due to a similar cultural background.

[edit]Syntactic
Widespread syntactical structures include the common use of adjectival verbs and the expression of comparison by means of a verb 'to surpass'.

[edit]Semantic
Quite often, only one term is used for both animal and meat; the word nama or nyama for animal/meat is particularly widespread in otherwise widely divergent Caribbean languages.

DATA COLLECTION

Data Collection is an important aspect of any type of research study. Inaccurate data collection can impact the results of a study and ultimately lead to invalid results. Data collection methods for impact evaluation vary along a continuum. At the one end of this continuum are quantatative methods and at the other end of the continuum are Qualitative methods for data collection . (http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/impact/methods/datacoll.htm )

www.alleganisd.org/ ma

Quantitative and Qualitative Data collection methods

The Quantitative data collection methods, rely on random sampling and structured data diverse experiences into predetermined response categories. They produce results that are and generalize.

Quantitative research is concerned with testing hypotheses derived from theory and/or being able to estimate the interest. Depending on the research question, participants may be randomly assigned to different treatments. If t may collect data on participant and situational characteristics in order to statistically control for their influence on variable. If the intent is to generalize from the research participants to a larger population, the researcher will em participants.

Typical quantitative data gathering strategies include:

Experiments/clinical trials. Observing and recording well-defined events (e.g., counting the number of patients waiting in the day). Obtaining relevant data from management information systems. Administering surveys with closed-ended questions (e.g., face-to face and telephone interview etc).(http://www.achrn.org/quantitative_methods.htm)

Interviews In Quantitative research(survey research),interviews are more structured than in Qualitative research.(http://www.stat.ncsu.edu/info/srms/survpamphlet.html

In a structured interview,the researcher asks a standard set of questions and nothing more.(

Face -to -face interviews have a distinct advantage of enabling the researcher to establish partiocipants and therefor gain their cooperation.These interviews yield highest response ra also allow the researcher to clarify ambiguous answers and when appropriate, seek follow-u include impractical when large samples are involved time consuming and expensive.(Leedy

Telephone interviews are less time consuming and less expensive and the researcher has the planet who hasa telephone.Disadvantages are that the response rate is not as high as th cosiderably higher than the mailed questionnaire.The sample may be biased to the extent t are part of the population about whom the researcher wants to draw inferences.

Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI): is a form of personal interviewing, but questionnaire, the interviewer brings along a laptop or hand-held computer to enter the in database. This method saves time involved in processing the data, as well as saving the inte hundreds of questionnaires. However, this type of data collection method can be expensive interviewers have computer and typing skills.

RESEARCH
Types of Research - Definitions Action research is a methodology that combines action and research to examine specific questions, issues or phenomena through observation and reflection, and deliberate intervention to improve practice. Applied research is research undertaken to solve practical problems rather than to acquire knowledge for knowledge sake. Basic research is experimental and theoretical work undertaken to acquire new knowledge without looking for long-term benefits other than the advancement of knowledge. Clinical trials are research studies undertaken to determine better ways to prevent, screen for, diagnose or treat diseases. Epidemiological research is concerned with the description of health and welfare in populations through the collection of data related to health and the frequency, distribution and determinants of disease in populations, with the aim of improving health. Evaluation research is research conducted to measure the effectiveness or performance of a program, concept or campaign in achieving its objectives. Literature review is a critical examination, summarisation, interpretation or evaluation of existing literature in order to establish current knowledge on a subject. Qualitative research is research undertaken to gain insights concerning attitudes, beliefs, motivations and behaviours of individuals to explore a social or human problem and include methods such as focus groups, indepth interviews, observation research and case studies. Quantitative research is research concerned with the measurement of attitudes, behaviours and perceptions and includes interviewing methods such as telephone, intercept and door-to-door interviews as well as selfcompletion methods such as mail outs and online surveys. Service or program monitoring and evaluation involves collecting and analysing a range of processes and outcome data in order to assess the performance of a service or program and to determine if the intended or expected results have been achieved.